The Hatching

The Bait

            The giant tarantulas in the bushes chuckled quietly, so the girl couldn't hear them, amused as they watched her writhe on the ground, struggling to move forward. "Is it time for dinner yet, Mommy?" a smaller—but still absolutely terrifying—spider whispered to the biggest tarantula by the name of Shelob, who was standing right beside him. "Be patient, dear," she chastised him gently. "We'll snatch up our meal soon enough..." Aragog, the young arachnid, nodded and licked his lips in anticipation, as he couldn't wait for that moment to finally arrive; at long last, it was his first birthday, on which it was tradition to eat your first human, as he would do today. All he wanted was to taste her, but he knew that the cluster had to trap her in first. They all knew. All of them except for the little girl herself, still on the ground, trying to shuffle herself forward.

            Okay, boys," Shelob finally announced. "It's time."

            Eight of those among the largest spiders—though none of them were even close to Shelob's gargantuan size—came forward, shooting out long, thick strings of velvety silk from their giant spinnerets. Before the little girl could even register what was going on, she was being wrapped up in the threads, encased in the middle of a humongous web. The spiders swung her and the web up into the branches, the girl's blood-curdling screams echoing through the forest.

            "Helpppppppp!!!!" she yelled out desperately. "HELP ME, SOMEBODY, PLEASE!!!!!!!!" She thrashed against her bindings as violently as she could, but to no avail; the strings just tightened around her until she was choking, gasping for air.

            "Oh, what a poor, naive young child," Shelob remarked, smiling evilly. "She still thinks it's not too late to be saved. Or maybe she knows, she's just holding out hope." She shook her head. "Ah, hope. What a wonderful yet wicked thing. It ropes you in, just like the breathtaking strands of a dew-soaked spider web. If only it truly existed, then that darling just might stand a chance."

            But just like Shelob had predicted, her cries for help were in vain, as the clutter just kept circling around her, eyeing her hungrily. Because it was dinner time, and this girl was the main course; besides, nobody likes to waste food... right?